Just asking

[Gipper]

What if many of our medium to kind of big cities take a page out of Terre Haute’s playbook and merge?  Let’s take a gander:

In Lafayette (Tippecanoe County), we’d have a combo of Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and West Lafayette would be the squad as CC would invoke separation of church and state and stand on its own.  

Muncie (Delaware County) could we a little more formidable.  Although Central gobbled up the Southside Rebels years ago, Delta, Lapel, and Yorktown would be good benefits to a hapless Bearcat squad.

Kokomo (Howard County)—I like this one as Eastern, Northwestern, Taylor, and Western join their big city compatriots.

Columbus (Bartholew County)—North and East: what could possibly go wrong?

Bloomington (Monroe County)—combing North, South, and Edgewood is not enough as they’ll be invading both Martinsville and Bedford (and maybe Seymour) to attain football dominance in the 812.

Lastly we have Frankfort (Clinton County) who improved a little bit by adding Central and Prairie.  Additionally, Maconaquah, after getting spurned by Kokomo, goes covert and joins the Hot Dogs.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2025 by Gipper

[hhpatriot04]

The ihsaa should allow cooping

[temptation]

44 minutes ago, Gipper said:

What if many of our medium to kind of big cities take a page out of Terre Haute’s playbook and merge?  Let’s take a gander:

In Lafayette (Tippecanoe County), we’d have a combo of Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and West Lafayette would be the squad as CC would invoke separation of church and state and stand on its own.  

Muncie (Delaware County) could we a little more formidable.  Although Central gobbled up the Southside Rebels years ago, Delta, Lapel, and Yorktown would be good benefits to a hapless Bearcat squad.

Kokomo (Howard County)—I like this one as Eastern, Northwestern, Taylor, and Western join their big city compatriots.

Columbus (Bartholew County)—North and East: what could possibly go wrong?

Bloomington (Monroe County)—combing North, South, and Edgewood is not enough as they’ll be invading both Martinsville and Bedford (and maybe Seymour) to attain football dominance in the 812.

Lastly we have Frankfort (Clinton County) who improved a little bit by adding Central and Prairie.  Additionally, Maconaquah, after getting spurned by Kokomo, goes covert and joins the Hot Dogs.

 

 

 

 

I think Perry/Southport should combine for athletics.

[PHJIrish]

Maybe Hamilton County schools should merge. 😉

[First_Backer_Inside]

Maybe instead of a North/South All-Star game, we should have a region tournament during the summer. (I know, I know, it won't work, not enough time in the summer to make it happen, kids going to college to play at the next level, but what if in a perfect world you could...)

[Frozen Tundra]

Not a fan of the idea of merging just to improve athletics. Not a fan of merging in general but I understand when it’s needed for financial reasons. Luckily, Bartholomew County doesn’t have that issue.

[23andCounting]

I'll never understand why the Harding kids were spread out between New Haven, Heritage, and Woodlan. Makes no sense geographically. Those kids could have went to schools like North Side and Snider, both with declining enrollments. Or Wayne, that would make the most sense. 

[HoopsCoach]

28 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

I'll never understand why the Harding kids were spread out between New Haven, Heritage, and Woodlan. Makes no sense geographically. Those kids could have went to schools like North Side and Snider, both with declining enrollments. Or Wayne, that would make the most sense. 

Harding was in the East Allen County Schools district, so they had to distribute the students within the district to New Haven, Heritage, and Woodlan.  North Side, Wayne, South Side, and Snider are all part of the Fort Wayne Community Schools district.  It is not really an issue now with open enrollment, but transportation probably prevents many students from going to one of the FWCS schools.

[Gipper]

1 hour ago, HoopsCoach said:

Harding was in the East Allen County Schools district, so they had to distribute the students within the district to New Haven, Heritage, and Woodlan.  North Side, Wayne, South Side, and Snider are all part of the Fort Wayne Community Schools district.  It is not really an issue now with open enrollment, but transportation probably prevents many students from going to one of the FWCS schools.

As I said medium-sized locales, not the behemoth Ft. Wayne/Allen County is😉

[oldtimeqb]

Evansville could benefit by consolidating 5 schools into 4. They would end up with two 5A’s and two large 4A’s. 

[wabashalwaysfights]

5 hours ago, Gipper said:

 

In Lafayette (Tippecanoe County), we’d have a combo of Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and West Lafayette would be the squad as CC would invoke separation of church and state and stand on its own.   

I understand the premise here, but just for context: the 4 schools you list above (Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and WL) are in the Lafayette metro area for lack of a better term, but are spread across 3 different corporations. Very different, at least to my understanding, with what is happening with the Terre Haute schools.

[Gipper]

2 hours ago, wabashalwaysfights said:

I understand the premise here, but just for context: the 4 schools you list above (Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and WL) are in the Lafayette metro area for lack of a better term, but are spread across 3 different corporations. Very different, at least to my understanding, with what is happening with the Terre Haute schools.

I’m fully aware there are 3 different corporations, but I don’t think it would ever come to fruition.  In fact, I wish the Hautians a lot of luck…

[23andCounting]

11 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:

Harding was in the East Allen County Schools district, so they had to distribute the students within the district to New Haven, Heritage, and Woodlan.  North Side, Wayne, South Side, and Snider are all part of the Fort Wayne Community Schools district.  It is not really an issue now with open enrollment, but transportation probably prevents many students from going to one of the FWCS schools.

What's confusing is that Harding resides just outside of Fort Wayne City limits, rural SE Fort Wayne if you will. Yet 90% of their student body could have walked to South Side.

[foxbat]

11 hours ago, wabashalwaysfights said:

I understand the premise here, but just for context: the 4 schools you list above (Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and WL) are in the Lafayette metro area for lack of a better term, but are spread across 3 different corporations. Very different, at least to my understanding, with what is happening with the Terre Haute schools.

Those districts are all very different too.  West Lafayette looks much more like LCC than any of the other schools.  McCutcheon and Jeff are more aligned economically albeit not nearly demographically.  Even WITHIN districts, Harrison probably looks more like West Lafayette than McCutcheon, even though Harrison and McCutcheon are both county schools that are close to the same size.

 

[Justasportsfan]

15 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

What's confusing is that Harding resides just outside of Fort Wayne City limits, rural SE Fort Wayne if you will. Yet 90% of their student body could have walked to South Side.

90% is a little much..alot of Southwick n village woods middle school kids.. only had a few public middle schools as feeder programs..one for harding..the others for south...

[HoopsCoach]

15 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

What's confusing is that Harding resides just outside of Fort Wayne City limits, rural SE Fort Wayne if you will. Yet 90% of their student body could have walked to South Side.

The boundary between EACS and FWCS on the southeast side of Fort Wayne is S Anthony Blvd.  Harding’s location on Wayne Trace is at the eastern edge of the city, so the vast majority of their students came from the neighborhoods west of the school between Wayne Trace and Anthony Blvd south of Paulding Road.  Those same neighborhoods are definitely closer to Wayne and South Side than New Haven and Heritage.

[Gipper]

This thread was all in jest, but thank you for your contributions.  I think if most countries, especially in bigger communities such as Lafayette and Bloomington, would be a logistical nightmare…

[Gipper]

On 10/5/2025 at 2:28 PM, hhpatriot04 said:

The ihsaa should allow cooping

Yeah, but from different parts of the state to mix it up:

Plymouth/Jennings County

Vincennes/Winchester

Tri-County/Milan

Highland/Seymour

South Bend Adams/Terre Haute North

 

[US31]

I'd rather see schools be forced to split once they become a certain size🤷‍♂️

[Indiana Fan]

1 hour ago, US31 said:

I'd rather see schools be forced to split once they become a certain size🤷‍♂️

Exactly…

Carmel splits into 2 - Carmel high and Clay high. Could possibly split into 3.

HSE &Fishers split into a 3rd.

 

[23andCounting]

1 hour ago, US31 said:

I'd rather see schools be forced to split once they become a certain size🤷‍♂️

I mean, that would be the best thing for the students, right?

9 minutes ago, Indiana Fan said:

Exactly…

Carmel splits into 2 - Carmel high and Clay high. Could possibly split into 3.

HSE &Fishers split into a 3rd.

 

Winning trophies, from what I've heard, trumps everything else. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe a tax issue? Building another high school isn't cheap.

[Bash Riprock]

On 10/5/2025 at 4:03 PM, temptation said:

I think Perry/Southport should combine for athletics.

I think mega schools of 5000 is just a great idea for the kids......😑

[temptation]

32 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

I think mega schools of 5000 is just a great idea for the kids......😑

Awaiting, "Center Grove has won with 2000-2500 kids, why can't Perry/Southport? which is always next with you.

"Eric Moore is great, their feeder system is top notch and everyone should simply copy it if they want to be successful."

Suggesting any factors other than "hard work" are a contributing factor to CG's success always seems to trigger you.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Maybe, just maybe a consolidated athletics program in Perry Township could develop into a nice little rivalry with CG so they don't feel the need to travell across state lines annually.

Edited October 7, 2025 by temptation

[WestfieldRocks]

On 10/5/2025 at 4:11 PM, PHJIrish said:

Maybe Hamilton County schools should merge. 😉

Ha Ha

[Bash Riprock]

41 minutes ago, temptation said:

Awaiting, "Center Grove has won with 2000-2500 kids, why can't Perry/Southport? which is always next with you.

"Eric Moore is great, their feeder system is top notch and everyone should simply copy it if they want to be successful."

Suggesting any factors other than "hard work" are a contributing factor to CG's success always seems to trigger you.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Maybe, just maybe a consolidated athletics program in Perry Township could develop into a nice little rivalry with CG so they don't feel the need to travell across state lines annually.

Perry and Southport hold their own in various other sports...Its not always just about football.  Let the kids play.

Besides...if I follow your formula...too many free lunches for them sustain excellence on the gridiron.

I just wonder when it will penetrate into your noggin, that one isn't triggered simply because they don't align with 100% of your views.  Put the ego away...its not personal.